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Diversity is the question, not the answer

The ISME Journal, 2017-01, Vol.11 (1), p.1-6 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

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Title:
Diversity is the question, not the answer
Author: Shade, Ashley
Subjects: 60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES ; BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES ; Biodiversity ; Ecology ; Ecosystem ; Microbial ecology ; Microbiota
Is Part Of: The ISME Journal, 2017-01, Vol.11 (1), p.1-6
Description: Local diversity (within-sample or alpha diversity) is often implicated as a cause of success or failure of a microbial community. However, the relationships between diversity and emergent properties of a community, such as its stability, productivity or invasibility, are much more nuanced. I argue that diversity without context provides limited insights into the mechanisms underpinning community patterns. I provide examples from traditional and microbial ecology to discuss common complications and assumptions about within-sample diversity that may prevent us from digging deeper into the more specific mechanisms underpinning community outcomes. I suggest that measurement of diversity should serve as a starting point for further inquiry of ecological mechanisms rather than an 'answer' to community outcomes.
Publisher: England: Nature Publishing Group
Language: English
Identifier: ISSN: 1751-7362
EISSN: 1751-7370
DOI: 10.1038/ismej.2016.118
PMID: 27636395
Source: MEDLINE
PubMed Central
ProQuest Central

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